Here’s my favorite quote of the week, attributed to Dorothy Parker, found at the tail end of a National Public Radio story on the 50th anniversary of the publication of “The Elements of Style”.

“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”

Searching for that item first led me to a W.S. Merwin poem that was part of yesterday’s Writers Almanac, in which William observes, “…the world still seems to come one at a time one day one year one season….”

That describes my feeling every morning as we walk at dawn. History is being made somewhere, but it all moves forward, from here, as the sun finds its way back from night, sometimes fighting its way through clouds, sometimes present only by reflection, sometimes slyly sneaking up on us, but always there, one day at a time, something you can count on even without knowing what each day will bring.

Did you notice the dramatic change in weather Friday evening? It was the first warm night in months. Warm enough to generate swarming termites when we left an outside light on. I was genuinely surprised.

Here’s a bit of potentially useless information. You can now order up your own DNA tests from Ancestry.com, ranging in price from $79 to $328 depending on the type of test.

Begin matching with genetic cousins…

Connect with others who share your ancient origins.

Participate in DNA Groups…

I guess that I’ve got to read more of their sales pitch to understand the thrills of trolling for genetic cousins.

Meda was quoted this week in an article in the Canadian magazine, Macleans.

And I received this note overnight from City Council Member Duke Bainum regarding the recent tornado that hit the small town of Mena, Arkansas.

I am returning today to Hawaii from Arkansas. Our bank’s roof got torn off (see part of roof in tree) — but compared to the rest of the City we are fine.

Hard to see how only three people died given the severity of the damage – reminded me of Iniki. County Judge said that thirty minutes warning was the difference.

131 homes totally destroyed. 601 damaged.

I am no longer CEO/President of the Bank- but just wanted to take a quick 3 day trip to show my support for our staff and the City. Our bank employees are grilling hamburgers and hot dogs and delivering to shut-ins and workers. Next week will be passing out cookies.

I knew Duke would be actively concerned about the bank’s employees and the people in the community it serves. (Oh, my. Was that an endorsement of sorts?? It could be read that way, I suppose.)